Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, Chapter Nine, "Mr.
and Mrs. Boffin in Consultation"[This part of the novel originally appeared in
periodical form in July 1864.]

Dickens commended Stone for the realisation of the Boffins, enjoying immensely Boffin's oddity as "an oddity of a very honest kind, that people would like" (quoted in Kitton, 198). The object of the Boffins' coach
ride is the residence of the Reverend Frank Milvey, whom they wish to consult
about their project of adopting an orphan.

[You may use this image without prior permission
for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the
person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this
URL.]

Passage illustrated:

In order that these visits might be visits of state, Mrs.
Boffin's equipage was ordered out.

This consisted of a long hammer-headed old horse, formerly used
in the business, attached to a four-wheeled chaise of the same period, which
had long been exclusively used by the Harmony Jail poultry as the favourite
laying-place of several discreet hens. An unwonted application of corn to the
horse, and of paint and varnish to the carriage, when both fell in as part of
the Boffin legacy, had made what Mr. Boffin considered a neat turn-out of the
whole; and a driver being added, in the person of a long hammer-headed young
man who was a very good match for the horse, left nothing to be desired. He,
too, had been formerly used in the business, but was now entombed by an honest
jobbing tailor of the district in a perfect Sepulchre of coat and gaiters,
sealed with ponderous buttons.

Behind this domestic, Mr. and Mrs. Boffin took their seats in the
back compartment of the vehicle: which was sufficiently commodious, but had an
undignified and alarming tendency, in getting over a rough crossing, to hiccup
itself away from the front compartment. On their being descried emerging from
the gates of the Bower, the neighbourhood turned out at door and window to
salute the Boffins. Among those who were ever and again left behind, staring
after the equipage, were many youthful spirits, who hailed it in stentorian
tones with such congratulations as 'Nod-dy Bof-fin!' 'Bof-fin's mon-ey!' 'Down
with the dust, Bof-fin!' and other similar compliments. These, the
hammer-headed
young man took in such ill part that he often impaired the majesty of the
progress by pulling up short, and making as though he would alight to
exterminate the offenders; a purpose from which he only allowed himself to be
dissuaded after long and lively arguments with his employers. [88-89]